Ps 6:7 – TIPs

saddened eyes

In Gbaya, the notion of saddened eyes is emphasized with ɓurɛ, an ideophone that describes eyes clouded with tears from grief.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Psalm 6:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 6:7:

Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“My eyes have swollen because of sorrow;
they are unable to see because of my enemies.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Weeping and weeping my eyes have become dim.
By weeping because of my enemies my eyes have become swollen.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“My eyes are-swelling/are-so-swollen from crying
because of what all my enemies have-done.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru:
“Because of my enemies, that’s the reason I cry till my eyes and nose swell up, and my thoughts are always sad.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Laarim:
“My eyes become unclear because of crying,
and my eyes become blurred, because of my enemies.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Macho yangu yamejaa kwa sababu ya kulia,
hayatazami vizuri kwa sababu ya maadui zangu,
ambao wamenifanya kulia.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“My tears blur my eyes so much that I cannot see well.
My eyes have become weak because my enemies have caused me to cry constantly.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Following is a translation of Psalm 6 into dance and song in Kabiyè by Groupe Ñalɩmɩyɛ. The video is followed by an English back-translation as well as the original Kabiyè text and a French back-translations. The leader (call) part is in standard type, the ensemble (response) is italicized.

Eternal God, your anger is kindled against me, I beg you do not condemn me.
Aawoo, Eternal God, your anger is kindled against me, I beg you do not condemn me.
Aawoo, Eternal God, have mercy on me, aowe, Eternal God have mercy on me.
Aawoo, Eternal God, have mercy on us, aawoo, Eternal God have mercy on us.
Aawoo, Eternal God, have mercy on us oooo, Eternal God have mercy on us. (2 times)
I’m moaning, I’m facing death, ooh my God, ohh my God, come and save me.
Aawoo, I’m moaning, I’m facing death, ooh my God, ohh my God, come and save me.
How long are you going to hold your grudge against me? Aawoo, ooh my God, come and deliver me.
Aawoo, how long are you going to hold your grudge against me? Aawoo, ooh my God, come and deliver me.
Ooh my God come save me, awoo, ooh come save me. (2 times)
Depart from me, my enemies, for God has responded.
Aawee, depart from me my enemies, aawé, for God has responded.
Truly, depart from me my enemies, aawoo, for God has responded.
Truly, oo, depart from me my enemies, aawoo, for God has responded.
Aawoo, my enemies are covered in shame, my God thank you.
Aawoo, my enemies are covered in shame, aawee, my God thank you.
Truly, my enemies are covered in shame, aawee, my God thank you.
Aawoo, my God aawoo, thank you yee, my God thank you.
Truly, my God thank you, aawee, my God thank you.
My God thank you, aawoo, my God thank you.
Aawee my God thank you, aawoo, my God thank you.
Aawoo, Infinite One thank you, my God thank you.
Aawoo, Eternal thank you truly, my God thank you.
Aawee, my God thank you, my God thank you.
Aawee, my God thank you aawoo, my God thank you.

Click or tap here to see the the text in French back-translation

Eternel Dieu, ta colère s’est enflammée contre moi, je te supplie ne me condamne pas.
Aawoo, Eternel Dieu, ta colère s’est enflammée contre moi, je te supplie ne me condamne pas.
Aawoo, Eternel Dieu, aie pitié de moi, aouwé, Eternel Dieu aie pitié de moi.
Aawoo, Eternel Dieu, aie pitié de moi, aawoo, Eternel Dieu aie pitié de moi.
Aawoo, Eternal God, have mercy on us, aawoo, Eternal God have mercy on us.
Aawoo, Eternel Dieu, aie pitié de nous oooo, Eternel Dieu aie pitié de nous. (2 times)
Je gémis, je suis devant la mort, ooh mon Dieu, ohh mon Dieu, viens me sauver.
Aawoo, je gémis, je suis devant la mort, ooh mon Dieu, ohh mon Dieu, viens me sauver.
Tu vas garder rancune contre moi jusqu’à quand ? Aawoo, ooh mon Dieu, viens me délivrer.
Awoo, tu vas garder rancune contre moi jusqu’à quand ? Aawoo, ooh mon Dieu, viens me délivrer.
Ooh mon Dieu viens me sauver, aawoo, ooh viens me sauver. (2 fois)
Eloignez-vous de moi mes ennemis, car Dieu m’a exaucé.
Aawé, eloignez-vous de moi mes ennemis, aawé, car Dieu m’a exaucé.
Véritablement, éloignez-vous de moi mes ennemis, aawoo, car Dieu m’a exaucé.
Véritablement, oo, éloignez-vous de moi mes ennemis, aawoo, car Dieu m’a exaucé.
Aawoo, mes ennemis sont couverts de honte, mon Dieu merci.
Aawoo, mes ennemis sont couverts de honte, aawee, mon Dieu merci.
Véritablement, mes ennemis sont couverts de honte, aawee, mon Dieu merci.
Aawoo, mon Dieu aawoo, merci yee, mon Dieu merci.
Véritablement, mon Dieu merci, aawee, mon Dieu merci.
Mon Dieu merci, aawoo, mon Dieu merci.
Aawee mon Dieu merci, aawoo, mon Dieu merci.
Aawoo, l’Infini merci, mon Dieu merci.
Aawoo, Eternel merci vraiment, mon Dieu merci.
Aawee, mon Dieu merci, mon Dieu merci.
Aawee, Mon Dieu merci aawoo, mon Dieu merci.

Click or tap here to see the the text in Kabiyè

Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ, ña-pana pane-m yeee, Mentenda-ŋ taakʋ mɔn-tɔm.
Aawoo, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ, ña-pana kpana-m yeee, Mentenda-ŋ taakʋ mɔn-tɔm.
Aawoo, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná man-pʋdɔɖɩyɛ, aawee, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná man-pʋdɔdɩyɛ.
Aawoo, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná man-pʋdɔɖɩyɛ, aawoo, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná man-pʋdɔdɩyɛ.
Aawoo, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná ɖa-pʋdɔdɩyɛ nee, Mɛwɛtam Ɛsɔ ná ɖa-pʋdɔdɩyɛ (2 fois)
Menseliɣ kpakpa, mɛwɛ sɩm nɔɔ nee, aawoo, hayɩ mɛ-Ɛsɔ yá ma-ñʋʋ.
Aawoo, Menseliɣ kpakpa, mɛwɛ sɩm nɔɔ nee, aawee, hayɩ mɛ-Ɛsɔ yá ma-ñʋʋ.
Ŋhakɩna-m nɛ pɩsɩna ɖooye? Aawoo, ooo mɛ-Ɛsɔ kɔɔ ŋlɩzɩ-m pɩ-taa.
Aawoo, Ŋhakɩna-m nɛ pɩsɩna ɖooye? Aawoo, ooo mɛ-Ɛsɔ kɔɔ ŋlɩzɩ-m pɩ-taa.
Ooo mɛ-Ɛsɔ kɔɔ ŋya ma-ñʋʋ neee, aawoo, ooo mɛ-Ɛsɔ yá ma-ñʋʋ. (2 fois)
Mon-koyindinaa, éposina-m yee, mbʋ pʋyɔɔ yɔ Ɛsɔ cosa-m.
Aawee, Mon-koyindinaa, éposina-m yee, aawee, mbʋ pʋyɔɔ yɔ Ɛsɔ cosa-m.
Toovenim taa, mon-koyindinaa, éposina-m yoo, aawoo, mbʋ pʋyɔɔ yɔ Ɛsɔ cosa-m.
Toovenim taa, mon-koyindinaa, oo, éposina-m yee, aawee, mbʋ pʋyɔɔ yɔ Ɛsɔ cosa-m.
Aawoo, fɛyɛ kpa ooo mon-koyindinaa nee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawoo, fɛyɛ kpa oo mon-koyindinaa nee, aawee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Toovenim taa, fɛyɛ kpa ee mon-koyindinaa nee aawee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawoo, Mɛ-ɛsɔ aawoo, ŋlabaɣlɛ yee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Toovenim taa mɛ-Ɛsɔ yee ŋlabaɣlɛ yee aawee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ
Aawoo Mɛ-ɛsɔ ee ŋlabaɣlɛ yee aawoo, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawee Mɛ-ɛsɔ oo ŋlabaɣlɛ yee aawee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawoo, Pɩɩtɛŋ ŋlabaɣlɛ aawee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawoo, Mɛwɛtam ŋlabaɣlɛ yoo toovenim, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawee, Mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ yee, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.
Aawee, Mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ yee aawoo, mɛ-Ɛsɔ ŋlabaɣlɛ.

Kabiye transcription and translation to French was completed by Mawèdong Amana, checking of Kabiye orthography and French translation was done by Kpatcha Hemou and Essokilina Tchamie, English translation by Sarah Jane Capper. Groupe Ñalɩmɩyɛ members: Ahoumondom Jacob Polonyoni, Louise Bide, Brouwa Adoko, Kodjo Boromna, Meneze Edjadefei, Maniya Pidaman.

The artists in these videos composed these songs by studying Psalms 6, 150 and 118 as well as Kabiye music and dance styles. They participated in a two-week workshop organized by SIL Togo-Benin in Kara, Togo in partnership with the master’s thesis research of Sarah Jane Capper for Dallas International University; the Association pour la Promotion des Saintes-Écritures en Kabiye (APSEK); and Scriptura.

Songs © APSEK 2024. CC BY-NC-ND

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

Translation commentary on Psalm 6:7

The psalmist’s intense weeping has affected his eyesight; his eyes “waste away” and “grow weak.” (Revised Standard Version My eye … it is not a natural way in English of speaking about one’s eyes.) It is rather strange that my foes in line b is parallel with grief in line a. Some scholars therefore emend the Hebrew for my foes in line b to the noun meaning “my distress,” which has a similar sound. New English Bible (without footnote) has “woes” instead of foes; Zürcher Bibel has “distress.” It is better, however, to stay with the Hebrew text as it is, since there is no textual evidence to support the change.

In some languages it may not be apparent that grief is the cause of My eye wastes away. Good News Translation has placed the reason, “from the weeping,” in the third line, thus giving a clearer rendering. This can also be translated “Because my enemies have made me cry very much, my eyes hurt and have grown weak.”

His enemies no doubt taunt him (as in 3.2) with the accusation that God has abandoned him, and this makes him weep.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Psalm 6 as classical Chinese poetry

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 6 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter with a rhyme scheme based on -ing (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

懺悔吟之一【憂戚】

求主勿怒譴。求主息雷霆。垂憐茲荏弱。康復此殘形。我骨慄慄戰。我心惴惴驚。長跪問我主。何時救伶仃。祈主一顧盼。援手昭慈仁。死域誰念主。頌聲絕幽冥。心魂困欲絕。徒此長呻吟。夜夜暗流淚。牀褥浥秋霖。目枯因愁多。骨消緣辱頻。傳語作孽者。無復纏我身。我泣主已聞。我求主已聽。有禱必見納。有感豈無應。行見彼醜類。望風皆逡巡。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

chàn huǐ yín zhī yī 【 yōu qī 】

qiú zhǔ wù nù qiǎn 。 qiú zhǔ xī léi tíng 。 chuí lián zī rěn ruò 。 kāng fù cǐ cán xíng 。 wǒ gǔ lì lì zhàn 。 wǒ xīn zhuì zhuì jīng 。 cháng guì wèn wǒ zhǔ 。 hé shí jiù líng dīng 。 qí zhǔ yī gù pàn 。 yuán shǒu zhāo cí rén 。 sǐ yù shuí niàn zhǔ 。 sòng shēng jué yōu míng 。 xīn hún kùn yù jué 。 tú cǐ cháng shēn yín 。 yè yè àn liú lèi 。牀 rù 浥 qiū lín 。 mù kū yīn chóu duō 。 gǔ xiāo yuán rǔ pín 。 chuán yǔ zuò niè zhě 。 wú fù chán wǒ shēn 。 wǒ qì zhǔ yǐ wén 。 wǒ qiú zhǔ yǐ tīng 。 yǒu dǎo bì jiàn nà 。 yǒu gǎn qǐ wú yīng 。 xíng jiàn bǐ chǒu lèi 。 wàng fēng jiē qūn xún 。